The Sunderland midfielder received his first international call-up after Dan Micciche included him in his 18 man squad – and after helping England to fourth spot in the competition, he believes his development has been aided through his time with the Young Lions.
Wright came off the bench in the 1-0 defeat by Denmark on Saturday, England’s second defeat of the week after suffering a 3-0 reverse against eventual winners Sweden on Thursday, but he feels he and his team-mates have benefited hugely despite the results.
DENMARK 1-0 ENGLAND
The Nordic U17 Tournament
Third Place Play-Off
Saturday 2 August 2014
Mosevej Stadium, Kolding, Denmark
“We’ve played well over the tournament, but I think our final ball just let us down at times at we ended up not getting the results we wanted,” the 16-year-old told TheFA.com.
“We are getting to how we want to play with each game that comes, improving over the week.
“And we should have won against Denmark - I thought we were the better team throughout. We had a lot of the ball, we took care of it well but just couldn’t get it into the right areas as often as we would have liked to find a breakthrough.”
Wright added: “We are much more confident getting on the ball. We’ve been working on it in training all week and playing in the right angles, and it has developed well during our time here.
“For instance, I was encouraged to take risks with the way that I play and not be boring - trying to hit cleverer passes going forwards. I think I’ve achieved that and improved my own game whilst being out here.”
South Shields-born Wright has impressed during his appearances for the U17s in Denmark, and he says his first taste of life with England has been hugely enjoyable – although he admits to feeling a few nerves prior to the meet up.
“I was a bit nervous at the start, but I feel fine now and I get on with everybody. It’s been great and I’ve fully enjoyed it.
“The first match I played I was proper nervous, but as kick-off approached I got my confidence and I couldn’t wait to play. I can’t really remember my first touch or much of it, but it was a great feeling afterwards.
“We are much more confident getting on the ball. We’ve been working on it in training all week"
Daniel Wright
“It has been a brand new experience for me – I’d never played Scandinavian teams before. I’ve learnt a lot from playing bigger and better teams at international level.
“They were a lot more athletic than teams I’ve previously played – they move around a lot more. It’s much harder to get close to them.”
And as he and his team-mates prepare to fly home on Sunday afternoon, the determined Wright already has his next aim to work on – winning a place in the squad for the St. George’s Park Tournament later this month.
“The next target now is to keep performing and hopefully I’ll be in the squad for the SGP Tournament later this month.
“They’ll be three more quality sides to play against Italy, Czech Republic and Portugal, and it would be great to test myself against them.
“The squad have got a lot closer over the week, we’ve worked hard and developed a bond between ourselves – hopefully we can carry that forward.”
Wright will find out if he is included in the squad for the tournament when John Peacock confirms his selection in just over a fortnight’s time.
